Stuck In Limbo
by goldenpurple
Summary: After his arrest in J2: Rise of the Dragons, Drago's imprisonment was largely forgotten by most (if not all) until his escape in season 5. It begs the question; what happened to Drago in the following weeks he was stuck in Section 13?


**A/N: This is my first one-shot and I'm proud to say that I've enjoyed writing this. Sure it took me a long time, but writing this was fun and helped my writing become less stale.**

 **This one-shot takes place at the end of the episode J2: Rise of the Dragons and the beginning of season 5. After I rewatched the J2: Rise of the Dragons, I realized that everyone (including me) watching the last episodes in season 4 had completely forgotten about Drago and Shendu. He didn't even appear in a cameo! There were so many unanswered questions and so many theories in my head, so I'm going to use this one-shot to try and put the unexplained pieces together. And no, my OCs won't be in this story. This (obviously) takes place before Gemstone 9.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. They belong to John Rogers and Duane Capizzi, the creators of Jackie Chan Adventures.**

 ** _Stuck In Limbo_**

"The dragons will rise **AGAIN**!" the last word that rolled off his reptilian tongue echoed through the hallways of Section 13. The night of Chinese New Year was supposed to be a special night for Drago, the son of Shendu. It was supposed to be the night where he would finally get his father's approval after many centuries of negligence, lack of love and the father-and-son connection. Instead of Drago celebrating, he was fuming. Furious that just like his father, Drago was defeated and locked away in Section 13. Only this time, he was locked in the Section 13 of the past. Why?

 _"Ya think you can safely keep Drago locked away in your Section 13?" Jade the Chief asked her uncle. Her, her younger self, Jackie and Uncle watched as a struggling Drago was dragged in a Section 13 prison van. An orange muzzle covered his mouth to prevent him from breathing fire. Thick arm cuffs prevented Drago from moving his arms much._

 _"Mark my words Jade Chan; I will. Have. My._ **REVENGE** _!" Drago pointed a scaly finger at her before being thrown in the truck. The Chan Clan simply shrugged their shoulders at the empty threat and continued their conversation._

 _"Why would you want to do that?" Jade turned to her future self. It was an odd request._

 _"The Section 13 of my time is too damaged for Drago to return. If I place him there, he'll be able to find a way to escape and do much more damage. I can't let that happen. Plus, I have to rebuild my Section 13 and I know it'll take a lot of work for it to be in tip-top shape again."_

 _"If Drago destroyed your Section 13, wouldn't that mean if Drago had escaped he could destroy ours?" Uncle's rising tone in the question made everyone do a double take._

 _"Hopefully you won't have to worry about that, Uncle. With your magic, I know you and Tohru will be able to subdue Drago and put him back in his place," Cheif Jade nervously chuckled and placed a hand on her great-uncle's shoulder. While they were talking, they hadn't noticed that Drago was watching them with a murderous look in his eyes._

"Oh yeah. That was why," he muttered. Drago took a seat on his prison bed with a heavy sigh. His itchy orange jumpsuit was unbearable for Drago to handle. He desperately wanted to rip it off and get his own fashionable and comfortable clothes back, but he knew couldn't. They were put away and replaced with a Section 13 common prisoner wear; a fireproof jumpsuit and muzzle, courtesy of Captain Augustus Black. Drago's tail violently thrashed around the stiff bed. It was one of Drago's many bad habits. This unconsciously happened whenever he was thinking too hard. Every time Drago thought about his loss to the Chans, the truth hit him; he had ultimately failed. He was having a hard time accepting defeat. It was a shared trait amongst most living things. Meeting Shendu on the way to his cell didn't make it any better.

 _"You_ do _know that if I was able to destroy a Section 13 with a Chan as chief, I can destroy this base just as easily. The future Section 13's security stinks and I'm guessing this one does too. I've escaped that place soooo many times," Drago confessed to Captain Black with a toothy sneer on his face. Augustus personally offered to direct Drago to his prison cell, wary of the fact that Shendu had a son. In their walking and all of Drago's talking, Black found it harder and harder to ignore the insults, taunts and curses flowing from the dragon's mouth like a waterfall. Captain Black passed the holding cells, walking towards a vault._

 _"After you put me in a boring cell, is that going to be all or what?" Drago rolled his eyes in boredom._

 _"You'll see," Black said. He walked Drago up to one of the vault doors and slid his card. He took a step back, letting the huge vault door swing open. Once fully open, Black watched as Drago's smug look changed into complete shock. Drago couldn't believe what he was seeing._

 _"Dad... ?" was all Drago could say. In his famous stone form, Shendu was sitting on a wall like a hanging, old framed picture. The adolescent could see the dust residing along the stone from where he was standing. Drago didn't think that Shendu had been captured for that long._

 _"Wow. Wouldn't have guessed that dear, old dad was stuck in prison long before I had to save you," the junior demon dragon mockingly beamed._

 _"'Father'? 'Save_ me _'? Don't make me laugh, boy! You don't deserve to be called my son after the complete failure you made tonight. You couldn't even save yourself from getting captured by Chan," Shendu's eyes glowered in disappointment._

 _"' **Complete failure** '?" Drago shoved past the Section 13 agents to take a step inside the vault. He felt a warm chill run up and down his back, but not because of the temperature._

 _"How **dare** you call me a 'complete failure'?! _ You're _the one still stuck as a statue by Chan!" the junior fire demon refuted._

 _"And you're the one who got captured by Section 13_ and _Chan, no doubt because of your unchecked temper," Shendu retorted. His son stood before him, rage filling up his body. He felt a warm glow at the back of his throat begin to grow. He tried to breathe fire at his father, only to realize that his fire-proof muzzle was there to stop the flames._

 _"Damn muzzle," he cursed aloud. He was grabbed by his arms and pulled back by the agents. He gave Shendu a deadly look. Even though it was hard to tell, Shendu was doing the same thing and Drago could feel this._

 _"Case in point," the senior fire demon chuckled. Drago snarled; he hated it when his dad was right._

 _"I'm alright seeing you trapped in Section 13 because I know you won't have any more chances of escaping. Face it old man; I was your last chance of getting out that stone prison and you blew it. Forget about asking me to help your pathetic ass anymore."_

 _"I would be a very happy dragon if I didn't ask you for any more favors. If I ever want something done right, I must do it myself. When I'm free, I_ will _make sure I put you in your proper place," the senior Fire demon growled. Drago gave his father a spiteful look as Black slid his card to close the vault door._

 _"And once I get out of here, if I see **you** again, I'll make sure you get a one-way ticket _**straight to hell** _."_

"So you're telling me that the future me relocated to build Section 14 and while I was away, Jade became the chief of Section 13?" Captain Black burrowed his brows. He couldn't believe what Jackie was telling him. Yes he witnessed a demon dragon and his demon siblings, magic at work, Japanese Oni masks and the latter. Black has been put in the hospital thanks to Dragon talisman magic, and for a while, Augustus found that hard to believe that magic was behind it all. Now Jackie telling him he moved on to Section 14, that was going to be hard for the chief agent to take in.

"It's quite hard to believe, Captain Black. It was hard for me also when the future Jade told me that I was still working at Section 13 as a magic consultant. It was even worse when I found out Uncle and I were about to be dragon chow," Jackie nervously chuckled. This night tired the Chinese archaeologist out. He deserved nothing more than a good night's rest.

"I still can't believe all of this happened on Chinese New Year. It's just like when Shendu almost destroyed all of Asia!" Jade exclaimed.

Augustus chuckled, patting his friend of six years on the back. "Luckily, it's all over. Drago and Shendu are in custody of Section 13 and shouldn't be seeing the light of day again."

"And it's all thanks to Jade Chan, future chieftain of Section 13! On both Chinese New Years, I saved Uncle Jackie's butt _and_ the world's," Jade proudly put her hands on her small hips. She was practically the only one who was enjoying her New Year. She placed a thoughtful hand on her chin as she remembered something. "I feel bad for Tohru. While he was spending time with his mom in Japan, we were saving the world from a demon dragon family takeover. I can't wait to tell him _everything_ when he comes back."

"Bah!" Uncle soured, crossing his arms over his chest at the thought of Tohru's mother. "If Vampire Woman was here, she would've distracted Uncle! He would've mistaken her for the source of dark chi magic!" As long as he was alive, breathing and the world put in balance, Uncle was alright. In his eyes, seeing Tohru's mom would immediately tip the balance in the dark side's favor.

"Now can we celebrate Chinese New Year?" Jade looked up at her Great-Uncle.

"Of course! Uncle is starving! Stupid teen dragon has been wasting too much of Uncle's time running around and getting captured!" the elder Chinese wizard agreed.

"And what are we going to do about Drago?" Black whispered to Uncle. The elder gave a concerned look to the agent.

Black sheepishly shrugged in response. "I'm just trying to follow your 'magic must defeat magic' rule so Drago doesn't make another escape."

"Uncle getting to that! To make sure Drago will not be getting out anytime soon, Uncle will put chi barrier spell that will prevent the dragon from escaping," Uncle agreed. Hearing Captain Black admit to his ingenious rule made Uncle's mood a little better, knowing that after all those years, Black was beginning to understand.

With that, the Chan Clan and Captain Black parted their ways. The Chan Clan went on to celebrate the Chinese New Year while Captain Black began to fill out the piles of paperwork left for him. It was as if everyone had completely forgotten about Drago for the rest of that night.

"I _knew_ I should've killed that old man when I had the chance! Same for the Jade of my time," Drago's tiger-like roar rolled off his tongue as he punched his fist into his open palm. He was ready to burn something—or some people—ash. Tonight was Chinese New Year and it really pissed him off that everyone around him was elated while he was stuck in jail. Today was supposed to be his best day, not one of his worst! Drago was beyond pissed that his holiday was ruined by none other than the Chans, the official demon party crashers. The junior fire demon let out a stream of black smoke, he could feel himself absolutely boiling with rage. Any minute now and Drago was ready to explode.

"Just wait 'til I blow this damn popsicle stand! Once I break free, all hell's gonna break loose. I'll just wait until the right moment... "

* * *

The next morning...

"What the hell do you think you're doing, assholes?" Drago snarled. Still, in his itchy and orange jumpsuit, he was dragged out of his holding cell at seven in the morning, cranky because of the lack of his sleep he received from sleeping in his hard bed. A rule Drago wanted Section 13 to remember was to never wake him up from his slumber; a rule they chose to ignore. Captain Black ignored Drago's insult and stepped out of the way for Uncle to step into the demon's cell.

"Yu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao, Yu Mo Gwai Gwaai Fai Di Zao," Uncle chanted with his magic smoke trailing behind him. The whiff of the good magic infuriated Drago.

"What is this?!" Drago recoiled, holding his nose with his claws. The light chi appeared to be burning his nostrils. He turned his head towards Captain Black.

"That's so you, lizard lips, don't get to pull another Dragon Takeover stunt," a proud Jade said in front of Jackie. Drago snorted.

"Real funny shortstop. Did it ever occur to you that I know a multitude of spells, some of which I could use to escape?" Drago smirked down at the girl. He was half bluffing; Drago _did_ know a multitude of spells but in order for the spells to work he had to acquire ingredients from  outside the prison.

"Does foolish dragon remember how Uncle left his mark on him yesterday or did he forget?" Uncle barked.

"Did _you_ forget about how I left you tied up and dangling over the San Francisco bridge and ready to die, old man?" the son of Shendu snapped back. He couldn't help but smirk remembering his bungee jumping line.

"Drago, you'll do well to shut your mouth unless you want to end up like your father in a vault!" Black pointed a stern finger at the dragon. The junior dragon snarled with a step forward, black smoke coming from his muzzle. The agents left and right of him pulled him back.

"I didn't ask for an old ass man to enchant my cell with good magic. You've already given me a good enough ass whooping and now I'm stuck in the same limbo with my worthless father. What else do you want from me?" Drago angrily huffed. Frankly, he was tired of being pushed around the Chans and Section 13. "You're lucky I have this muzzle on my mouth and these fire-proof chains on my hands. Otherwise, I'd rip all of you apart."

"Oooh! Foolish demon is about to get healthy piece of Uncle for breakfast!" Uncle snarled. He pushed past Black and made a straight bee-line for Drago. The dragon stepped forward to Uncle's challenge, only to be pushed back by three agents. Uncle was barely held back by Tohru. For an elder, Uncle was pretty strong when he was angry.

"Sensei, you must finish the protection spell. Block out all of Drago's distractions," he pleaded with his teacher. When Uncle stopped struggling to push past his student, he adjusted his glasses.

"And where'd this guy come from?" Drago demanded and took a good look up and down at Tohru. The man was built in shape and in height like a mountain, almost like Aunt Po. Drago curled his lip and turned to Black, then Tohru. "I didn't know you were into sumo wrestling Black. What are you, 500 pounds?"

Tohru's lips dipped into a frown as he turned his way to look down on the dragon, knuckles beginning to turn white. He wanted to squash Drago right then and there, but knew that wouldn't be a good idea. "I weigh 480, demon; enough to crush you if you lay a finger on my sensei," the man growled. Drago shook his head and scoffed.

"Yeah yeah. Your sensei's the type to get tired after a five minute walk in his backyard garden anyway," he quickly retorted. Oh how Drago loved his quick-tongued ability to clap back at any insult thrown his way.

"Zhèxiē rìzi zhōng de yītiān [One of these days]... " Uncle muttered within Drago's understanding earshot. He walked back in Drago's cell and continued to chant spell. The chi wizard took out the green chi dust and covered the entrance to the cell. The nausea in Drago's stomach and the burning in his nostrils from the good chi was unbearable.

"Uncle is done. Drago has no chance of escaping any time soon," a smug look covered Uncle's face as he looked directly at the fire demon. The demon dragon glared back, his crimson pupils burning through the old man's skull. The agents dragged the son of Shendu, almost throwing him back in his cell. His tail hit a small cluster of green chi dust lying on the tile floor, making him shriek in pain.

"I **HATE** good magic," he cursed as he carefully held his burnt tail. He looked up to see the Chan Clan and Captain Black staring at him in a mix of spite and triumph.

"The fuck are you looking at?" Drago hissed with a hateful side-eyed glance. In parent protectiveness, Jackie quickly covered Jade's ears and led her away from the Drago's cell, giving a nod to Captain Black. Altogether, the good guys left Drago alone, going on to do their own thing.

"It'll all be over soom. No more Chan, no more good magic, no more of this hell," Drago repeated the mantra in his head. He looked down at his hands, which were completely covered and cuffed up. "I can't wait to get my hands on those Chans... "

* * *

Lunchtime...

"He-Here is y-your l-lu-lunch, D-D-Drago," Agent Danny stammered, rolling in the prisoner's lunch tray. On the lunch tray was a carton of chocolate milk, soggy pineapples, messy vegetables, not-so-nice mashed potatoes, half-melted red jello and discolored rice. Danny had heard a lot about the new prisoner in the last few days and before, hadn't really believed it because he had no reason to. No prisoner could scare someone that bad, demon or not, Danny had thought. It was now that he was seeing eye to eye with Drago that he was getting cold feet.

Drago rubbed his grumbling stomach. He looked at the man with narrowed red eyes. "You're late."

"The guy w-who usually d-does this called in si-sick today," Danny responded.

"Hmph, I wonder why," Drago looked the scared agent up and down several times before deciding to speak. "You look like you're about to piss your pants."

"Uh... "

"Just give me my fucking food already. I'm hungry, dammit," Drago folded his legs. Danny took out the keys to the jail cell and unlocked the door. He walked inside, pushing the prisoner's lunch his way. To make sure he won't get burned alive by surprise, Danny ran out the door and made to sure to securely lock it.

"Where ya goin'? Dontcha wanna stick around?" Drago mocked at shaking agent Danny.

"N-No thank you. I'd rather eat my own lunch so-somewhere else."

"Where are the Chans?" Drago crossed his legs. "Haven't heard or seen them all day ever since they've protected my cell with the chi barrier."

"Wh-Why are you worried about the C-Chans if they are your enemies?" Danny raised a suspicious eyebrow. The son of Shendu gave a disdained frown at the Section 13 agent.

"Because nunya. Keep talking like that and you'll be next on my list of those getting torched when I get out," came Drago's snappy response. The cringed with a cold chill that ran up and down his back.

"J-Jackie is doing an assigned mission gi-given to him by Captain Black. He's dealing with a criminal at the San Francisco Museum," Danny whimpered. "I'm not even supposed to be telling you this. The information is confidential."

"Ah, but you did because if you didn't, I'd kill you," Drago laughed. In his head, Danny was praying that Drago wouldn't think of killing him. The demon dragon took a look around his tray before turning to his new agent.

"I _need_ eating utensils! How can I eat without having a fork and a spoon? You expect me to eat with my hands like a common animal?!" he snarled as he slammed his fist against the metal tray.

"Be-beside th-the-the plate," Danny whimpered at Drago's sudden act of violence, pointing at the small plastic bag beside the tray. His nervous fidgeting made it hard to tell what he was pointing to.

"Huh," the demon dragon ripped open the utensils and opened it. He hungrily chowed down on his rice before spitting it out on his tray. The son of Shendu used the fork to scratch the disgusting rice off his reptilian tongue.

"Tell me your name," Drago pointed to Danny.

"Danny."

"Tony, **what** is this shit?!" he pointed to the chewed up rice. Drago knew Agent Danny's name, he was just to lazy to say so.

"My name's Danny and it's your lunch. This is the l-lunch they s-s-erve for pri-prisoners at Section 13," Danny winced at Drago's furious tone. The agent knew his choice of words were wrong, seeing the immediate rage.

"It doesn't matter if your name is Danny, Tony, Samantha or even Batman! **This**?! _This_ —" Drago tried the other foods on his plate, only to spit them all out on his tray. He proceeded to throw the chewed up food at the cell doors, aiming for Agent Danny, majority of the food hitting his face. If Drago wasn't so damn scary, Danny would be disgusted at the fact that his face was covered in chewed up food and demon saliva.

"W-What's wrong with th-the food?" the agent wiped the food from his face.

"' _What's wrong_ '?! What's **WRONG** is that this can't be my lunch! That's not even actual _food_!" Drago complained. He turned to the food-covered Danny and pointed to him with a scaly finger.

"You go back into the Section 13's kitchen and cook me up some _actual_ food before your barbecued remains become my lunch today!" the demon dragon didn't get to finish his threat because scaredy-pants agent Danny had already dashed out the prison hallway to prepare better food for the prisoner. When Drago's temper had calmed down some, he darkly laughed to himself. It felt good to strike fear into a mortal's heart again.

"If I have to keep putting up with this, I don't know if I'll go crazy or if I'm gonna enjoy it."

* * *

"Captain Black, are you alright?" Jackie answered his cell phone. He didn't have to look at the screen to tell who was calling. The Section 13 was a part of the J-Team, and everyone was wondering where Black was.

"Been better, Jackie. We're operating from a mobile unit. The Oni seized headquarters. Satellite surveillance indicates they're on their way out of town in teams of two, heading north, south, east and west," Captain Black reported. Black was still having a hard time believing everything that was happening in the last few minutes. He was kicked out of his all-too-favorite secret headquarters by Japanese Oni demons and was forced to work in a mobile unit. As Jackie would say, 'bad day'.

"No doubt to state their claims of the globe, unless the J-Team stops them before they get that far," Jackie nodded. He mentally swore that as long as he and his team of do-gooders were alive and kicking, no member of the J-Team was going down without a fight.

"Be careful, my friend," with that, Jackie and Captain Black hung up at the same time.

"Has everyone been escorted from the premises?" Black turned to the agents in his van.

"Yes sir," replied Agent Danny. Lucky for him after the Drago-lunch incident, Captain Black made sure he came nowhere near the demon. Danny was happy not to be harassed by him anymore, even if he had met him only once.

"All the equipment?" Black turned to Kepler.

"Yes sir, though I'm not sure if this equipment will be used in order to get back Section 13... " the engineer trailed off. He took a pitiful look at his genius inventions in his laboratory in Section 13 turning back to his boss. When the agents all evacuating their headquarters, the Oni made sure Kepler wouldn't bring any of his inventions with him, just in case he would try something sneaky. They had promised to him they wouldn't break it but at this point, Kepler wasn't so sure anymore. Turned out that Jackie and his family's discussions about magic was real— _very_ real.

"Tarakudo's too smart to damage an invention that would help him take over the world," Black commented.

"So what are we going to do in this van?" asked Danny with a raised brow.

"According to Jackie's uncle, 'magic must defeat magic'. The J-Team will handle it so I'm guessing the rule still applies in this situation. You don't know how mad Jackie's uncle gets when you don't listen. Even if we attempted to take back Section 13, Tarakudo's forces are too strong for us as a whole section of an agency," Black explained, still spying on the Oni with the security cameras.

"Then why can't we call Section 12 and the other ones?" asked Danny. Captain Black glared at the young man.

"If you're in the mood to lose your job and get sent to a mental institution, then do that. The other sections will make a much bigger mess than it already is. They're not as experienced as we are in 'magic'," the chief agent grumbled. "My superiors already think I'm a complete nut job. If I told them that I lost my underground headquarters to some century-old Japanese Oni demons and ninjas dressed in all black who want to use it to host a forever sleepover, they will flip."

"I guess that means we're going to have to lay low on surveillance until the J-Team says we're clear," Kepler deduced with a pout.

"Good point," Danny nodded and turned back to his computer. When he looked into the security camera, he covered his mouth in shock. "Oh no."

"Um, sir?" quipped Danny. He shuddered, turning to face his boss. He knew what Black's reaction would be the same as his.

"Danny?" Black asked. He felt his stomach drop, knowing that Danny's gasp meant that something was wrong.

"We may have forgotten one person while evacuating Section 13," the young man whimpered. He turned to the security cameras and changed it to a sleeping dragon in his prison cell. Captain Black stood up in a mix of anger and awe, staring at the camera.

"I-I don't know how we forgot about him but—" Danny tried to say but the words died in his throat. He wasn't secretly happy he didn't have to see Drago, but worried about what Drago will do while in Oni-occupied prison.

Kepler's face was still the same, but inside he was horrified and confused. Augustus sat back down in his chair, massaging the bridge of his nose. He wasn't sure if he knew what to say next.

"Shit."

* * *

"Something's up. I'm not sure if I'm liking this surge of power or hating it," the demon dragon deeply inhaled. It was already mid-afternoon (or so he thought. Drago stopped keeping track of time in his cell) and Drago hasn't received his breakfast or his lunch. He hasn't seen Captain Black and neither hide nor hair of a Chan.

"Where **is** everybody?" Drago hollered. He grabbed a hold of the cell bars but when the green chi zapped his hand, he angrily backed off.

"I keep forgetting about that stupid chi barrier," the demon looked at his scaly hands. So much for escaping. For some odd reason, his hands didn't sustain as much serious damage as they would before. When Uncle had first set up the chi spell it had felt like lightning, acid, and lava all at once searing Drago's scales. The sensation was sometimes so intense that Drago could feel the pain at the tip of his tail. Now it just felt like mild explosive sparks.

"The old man's chi spell. He said it was going to put me away for a long time," Drago thought with a scratch of his chin. He grinned and looked up to see the pale ceiling above him. He knew what he wanted to see. "They're aligning faster than I thought."

Drago knew he was all alone in his prison hallway and as far as he knew, all of Section 13. None of Black's stupid questions, no looks from Chan or his uncle, no Jade taunting him from outside his cell. Of everything he had hated in his "stay" at Section 13, it was Jade coming in for a couple minutes whenever she could to pick on Drago for whatever she felt like. Over time, Drago learned to ignore her squeaky, little annoying voice but it was still something that got extremely tiring.

 _It feels like... like something dark has taken over. I'm not sure what, but I know something's definitely not right. If only I could find out what..._

"Hey Black!" the dragon exclaimed through the bars. No response. The only thing that Drago could hear was the echo of his voice. running up and down the hallways.

"CAPTAIN BLAAAACK!"

No response.

"CHAN! HEY CHAN!"

Nothing.

" **DAMMIT CAN ANYONE HEAR ME**?!"

The empty response in Section 13 was practically killing Drago. Where was Captain Black to tell him to settle down? Where was Jade to gloat in his face? Where was Uncle to cast another idiotic chi spell?

" _What the fuck is going on here_?!" Drago slapped the cell bars with his tail. He quickly regretted that when he got shocked by the green chi, touching his pained tail.

"Yow!"

"Who dares to yell in Master Tarakudo's headquarters?" a booming voice was heard. Drago whipped his head around to find himself staring at what seemed to be a blue samurai and a big, red floating head behind the samurai. The samurai's green irises and yellow sclera stood out to Drago significantly. The blue samurai's eyes seemed to burn a hole in the middle of the imprisoned Drago's head. The large floating head that had appeared out of nowhere caught the demon dragon off-guard.

"Whoa!" the son of Shendu quickly backpedaled away from the cell doors. "Who— _What_ the fuck are you?"

"I am **Tarakudo** , King of all Oni! Lord of all Shadowkhan! Surely you've heard of me," Tarakudo boomed throughout the hallway of Section 13 with a proud smile. "You may bow little demon."

"How did you even get in here?" Drago tried hard not to let people see the Japanese demons cringe.

"I used the stairs like any guest—well, any _owner_ —would," the Shadowkhan King remarked. "I didn't know Captain Black kept any pets."

"Tch, you wish. You're that Shadowkhan King I've heard about from my backstabbing father. Sorry, but I don't bow to big ass floating heads and samurai Smurfs," the demon dragon crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fool! You will bow to your new master before I eat your brains!" the blue samurai threatened with a pointed claw.

"And who the hell are you telling me what to do?" Drago grunted.

The blue samurai angrily beat his chest twice in a warrior-like manner. "Who am **I**? I am **Ikazuki** , loyal servant and second-in-command to Tarakudo! I am the Oni demon of the Samurai Shadowkhan, as you can see. Once the Earth is fully shrouded in darkness, you will do well to remember your master's names." Behind Ikazuki was two large Samurai Shadowkhan. Their arms were folded like a duo of bodyguards. Drago snorted, not surprised by what he was seeing.

Ikazuki suspiciously eyed Drago with a malicious grimace. The Oni decided that he didn't like Drago's snarkiness. He didn't know who or what a Smurf was, but he knew it wasn't a compliment. The blue Oni turned to Tarakudo and respectfully bowed to him. "What do you want me to do with this inferior creature, master Tarakudo?"

"' _Inferior creature_ '? I am **Drago** , the one and only son of the fire demon Shendu!" Drago really didn't know why he added his great introduction in. He currently despised his father, so why did he add Shendu to his intro?

"So _you're_ the son of Shendu?" Tarakudo laughed. "The big and bad dragon who stole my Shadowkhan power?"

"Yeah, so what?" Drago deadpanned.

"Hm, didn't I see that old, obsolete dragon hung up in a Section 13 vault like an old picture frame?" the Oni King mockingly replied. Drago squinting his crimson eyes at the Oni.

"You probably did. Not that I care about that retired dragon bastard," he nonchalantly shrugged. Drago found himself with a dark blade barely touching the base of his throat, ready to thrust forward.

"You will not show disrespect to Master Tarakudo while _you_ are the one who is stuck in his prison, inferior demon," Ikazuki pointed a blue finger at Drago's face. It was one of his Samurai Shadowkhan that held up swords and who threatened to slice Drago's throat.

Drago growled in a tiger-like fashion and gained a smug smile as he said, "Then let me out so I can continue to disrespect you, Ika- _Smurf_ -i." Drago loved his quickly thought-up insults. Even though Drago was indeed the one in prison, he enjoyed seeing 'Ika-Smurf-i' getting angry. Ikazuki grabbed the bars of the jail cell, ready to rip them apart.

The junior dragon chuckled. "Bad idea."

Uncle's chi spell took effect, shocking the Oni demon. "Yaaarrgggh!" when he let go, the second-in-command found his hands covered in what looked to be minor first-degree burns.

"That wasn't my doing, but it was pretty funny seeing you suffer," Drago smirked.

"Ikazuki, it seems that we cannot negotiate with the stubborn dragon. Just like his dear old dragon daddy," Tarakudo clucked his tongue in mock shame.

"I'm not _anything_ like that pathetic loser! Not when I'm the one who will be free and he's the one who's been, and will forever be, stuck in limbo," Drago stepped closer to the cell doors. "I've been stuck in this prison for way too long! I'd understand if you don't trust Shendu because of his stupidity, but I've done nothing to you. We have no reason to be enemies, King Tarakudo. We could be allies since we do have a common enemy."

In the back of Drago's mind, there's no way he could loyally go along with his propositioned vow. He didn't exactly like making allies; when they become incompetent, Drago had no choice but to dump them. Even if he could go through, Drago loathed the idea of being allies with Tarakudo. Drago didn't know much about the Oni King but if Ikazuki was walking around, bowing and calling Tarakudo 'master' all day, then the son of Shendu couldn't go along with it. He was used to being the master instead of calling others that title.

Tarakudo looked Drago dead in his blood red eyes, trying to read Drago's mind. During the Shadowkhan King's reign, Tarakudo had met some few people with the same attitude as Drago's: brash, hot-headed, snarky. Of course he defeated them in the end, but Tarakudo couldn't stand attitudes such as those. Back then, it was hard to trust people like that. To Tarakudo, they were better off as enemies.

"No."

" **No**?! What do you mean ' _no_ '?!" If Drago could put his hand through the cell's bars, he would've punched Tarakudo in his big head.

"No, I will not free you. I did not respond to your offer as a question but a definite answer. I've met others with the same attitude as yours before. They pretend to be loyal, and in the end turn and to betray me. I'd rather not waste my time freeing the son of Shendu when he might backstab me, just like his father had done. 'Like father, like son', as the saying goes," with that, Tarakudo dissipated into the stone wall. A few seconds later, he came back with a set of clothes neatly folded. Tarakudo mentally unfolded the clothing and showed it off to Drago.

"While I'm not freeing you, I've decided to be... gracious enough to give you a small gift: fresh clothes. I think you'd like it."

"What is that?" came Drago's soft tone. He didn't know if he was supposed to be mad at Tarakudo's insults or content with the gift.

"When my Shadowkhan were looking through Black's desk in his office, I saw a blue tacky one-piece that I'm guessing belonged to you?" Tarakudo asked.

"And so you changed that to this?" Drago grabbed the levitating clothes to get a better look himself. One hand held a black trenchcoat with the sleeves ripped out while the other held black boots with holes in them well fitting to Drago's feet. At his feet were what looked like a grey sleeveless shirt, a red sash, and dark grey baggy pants. As much as Drago didn't like Tarakudo and his smugness, he'd never openly admit that these clothes were... neat.

"Your choice in clothing burns my eyes and needed some proper adjustments, so I took the liberty of changing your apparel. This is just in case you ever do escape. Doubt it though," with Shadowkhan King's levitation he moved the folded clothes through the cell bars and set them on the prison bed gently. "Alright, we're done here." Tarakudo again dissolved into the wall, this time not bothering to come back.

"You heard the master. You aren't worthy of such a precious ideal such as freedom." Ikazuki sneered at a seething Drago. He stepped into his shadow and sank below. In the blink of an eye, he was gone also. Drago was alone once again.

"Hey! Come back here and _free_ me, you Oni bastards!" The young demon shouted, returning to his angry mode. When it had gone through his head that they weren't coming back, Drago roared a devilish roar to began to trash his jail cell, tearing up his mattress, the walls, the floor; in other words, nearly anything left standing in Drago's way. The son of Shendu even hit the good chi barrier a couple of times. He could care less about the injuries he was sustaining from the good chi magic. Hell hath no fury like a demon scorned.

* * *

A long two weeks later...

"The bad chi stars have finally aligned in my favor," Drago maliciously rubbed his hands together. It was late in the night and Drago wasn't feeling the least bit tired. Somehow, the son of Shendu had managed to stay awake for thirty hours straight. How Drago was able to do that, he didn't know. He had to feign fatigue during the day so Captain Black and his agents wouldn't wonder about him.

 _"What happened to Agent Penny, Black? I miss making that guy piss himself," Drago chuckled. Agent Black scowled at the dragon, placing his hands in his pockets. He didn't understand how or why Drago's mood went from usually angry to elated. Something was up and Black had to find out what._

 _"His name is Danny. And what with your sudden good mood? One day, you're cursing out everyone in Section 13 and the next day, you're smiling like a serial killer clown," Black said._

 _Drago shrugged. "I dunno. I'm so happy being in jail that I'm starting to like it here."_

 _"You're lying."_

 _"Of course I'm lying! I was being sarcastic dumbass. Do you even_ know _what sarcasm is?" the demon glared at the chief agent. He lay down on his bed and let out a soft roar/yawn, stretching out his muscular arms to use as a comfortable makeshift pillow._

 _"Get lost. I wanna take a nap," he mumbled._

 _"Hey, I'm not done talking to you yet!" Augustus stepped closer to the cell. Drago waved him off with his tail._

 _"I didn't ask you what you wanted. Whatever the guest wants, the guest gets," he bragged. As Drago let the blanket of sleep cover him, Black scratched the top of his head in confusion._

 _"I've never heard of that kind of saying before."_

If anyone found out what he was planning, Drago's plan would surely fail. Since he never did anything actually exciting in his cell during the day Drago took that time to meditate, only taking short breaks for his meal time. He had taken two full plates of sloppy breakfast, three plates of not-so-great lunch and two plates of a mediocre dinner. Drago had even manipulated the vulnerable Agent Danny to get him three candy bars. He would need the surplus food; the dragon couldn't escape on an empty stomach. Drago needed all the strength he could get, not to mention decent looking clothes so he wouldn't look like a runaway prisoner. The King of the Shadowkhan was right; Drago _did_ like his new clothes. How and why Tarakudo did what he did, he would never know. From what he heard from the shrimp, Tarakudo's stuck in his own Shadowkhan Netherworld for good. For once, Drago agreed with Chan's decision. If anyone was going to take over the world, it was going to be him and him alone.

When he saw that it was the right time, Drago quickly changed from his prison jumpsuit and undid his muzzle. It took him weeks to learn how to undo his binds, using little to no force at all. He slapped on his gifted clothes, keeping silent. Drago noted this as one of the rare times he chose to keep silent.

I wonder why no one sees what I'm doing, Drago thought. Maybe the guard supposed to be under surveillance is sleeping. He had guessed this and laughed.

"I can't believe Captain Whack and Chan really thought they were going to keep me here forever. Ha! I'll say it once and I'll say it again; security at Section 13 stinks," Drago grasped the cell's bars. He felt only the coldness of the metal. "Hmph, the old man's chi barrier is gone. The bad chi stars must've eliminated the good magic for me. I bet the old man doesn't even know about this."

Drago took several steps back and sat on his stiff bed. He closed his eyes and put his hands together in a prayer motion. With each inhale, the demon could feel his firepower within getting stronger. With each exhale, Drago let out clouds of black dust from his nostrils and mouth, filling his jail cell.

If this isn't the perfect time to get out, I don't know when would be.

When Drago opened his eyes, he no longer had red pupils. His eyes fully glowed red, like his father and his relatives. A great feeling overcame his body and radiated from his scales. A familiarly warm feeling enveloped his throat. Drago let out his last meditating exhale and a strong stream of fire was released from the junior dragon's mouth. The brewing fire was so strong that it reduced the cell's metal bars to nothing and exceeded outwards.

"No prison can hold the son of Shendu!"


End file.
